An old friend makes a timely interruption, changing the course of the paths for all at Camp Rock... after all, promises are sacred, especially when made at midnight in a darkened room, with the innocent belief of children. No matter how famous a girl gets

"So let
me get this straight, you lie about your mom to look important, but
you don't even mention me? Nice to know you love me, Mitch!" a
half-sincere, half-laughing, definitely female voice rang out behind
the group currently watching the fallout that was Mitchie Torres and
Shane Gray. The group turned, intrigued. Shane spun round on his
heel, furious with the lies, furious for being interrupted. Mitchie
turned slowly, hardly daring to believe that the oh-so-timely
interruption was real. After all, she was not supposed to be
here.

The voice
belonged to a petite girl, standing facing the group. Obviously curly
black hair was tamed, pulled back into a ponytail on the back of her
head, secured by a purple ribbon. Dark jeans hung on her hips, heeled
ankle boots added the slightest bit to her little height, a purple
camisole trimmed with black lace accentuated the paleness of her
skin. Dark sunglasses masked her eyes, which sat on high cheekbones,
over deep pink, carefully glossed lips. All except the addressed
didn't recognise her.

"Maybe
I know how much you value your privacy, especially when it comes to
the past?" Mitchie shot back.

"Honey,
you are the one thing from my past that doesn't hurt to think
about," the newcomer replied wryly, stepping daintily down into the
group.

"Even
so, I didn't want to drag you into this – last thing you need."

"What
is it I say at the end of every call, letter or email? Oh yeah, ring
if you need me – remember our promise. Hmm, and what was that
promise? I remember, 'Friends 'til the end, hand in hand, side by
side, never will I let you down, and this I vow.' Plus, hello! I've
known you FOREVER! I'll always know when you need me! And, you
know, your mom just might have given me the heads up."

"Nice
to see you trust me not to mess things up," the other girl
muttered.

"Oh, I
do. Just you also mentioned an uber-bitch. And knowing the way the
devious mind works as I do, I knew something'd clue her in."

"Who
even are you?" Tess chose this moment to chip in, loudly and
rudely.

"You
must be the devious mind!" the raven-haired girl answered cheerily,
"Wow, I gotta say, good going. A stunt like this, takes a lot of
effort – hell, brings back more than a few memories of being on
your end, right Mitch?"

"You
haven't answered my question. Who are you?"

"Oh my
gosh! I so didn't mean to be rude – wouldn't want to steal your
place! I'm Ari, Mitch and I go way back. As in, since we where
tiny."

"Who
the hell are you to waltz in here?" Shane burst out, clearly
frustrated with the unusual turn the night had taken.

"Well,
hotshot, I was getting to that. Honestly!" This, of course, caused
both Nate and Jason, up until this point stood silently just behind
their bandmate, to shake with suppressed laughter. Seeing Shane get
told by a diminutive female was way too funny.

"Ari,"
Mitchie warned, shaking her head.

"Fine…"
'Ari' replied, sighing. She flipped the sunglasses up to sit on
top of her head, revealing massive, sparkling grey eyes. Her full
lips turned into a grin as she said, "Hi, I'm Arianna Starr."
Jaws dropped.

Caitlyn
snapped out of her shock, beginning to grin wildly. Finally, Tess
Tyler, the unstoppable Queen Bee of Camp Rock, was unable to control
the world around her. It felt good to be on the winning side.

"Don't
bother," the young music sensation turned away, stomping off
towards his cabin, Nate and Jason in tow.

Tears
welled up in Mitchie's eyes, before Caitlyn took her arm,
muttering, "Not here you don't."

Arianna
slotted her arm through Mitchie's other arm, helping to lead her
away from the Beach Jam stage. This was going to take a lot of
fixing…

"Hey.
Hey, look at me." Arianna whispered. She was crouched in front of
her old friend, who was sat slumped on the bed. Caitlyn had led them
to her own cabin, empty other than her. No one wanted to live with
the girl who'd been cast of by Tess Tyler, after all. On arrival,
Mitchie had dropped onto the bed, letting the pooled tears fall, and
hadn't moved since. Caitlyn sat to one side of the crying girl,
rubbing soothing circles on her back. They'd spent ten minutes
trying to silently comfort the broken girl already, and Arianna knew
it was time to speak.

"Mitch,
just look at me, yeah?" Finally the sobbing girl raised her head,
looking at her first friend through watery, swollen eyes.

"Ari, I
ruined it all. What is there to say?"

"Everything.
Anything. You gotta try, sugar."

"How? I
can't see a way to fix this…"

"Doesn't
mean there isn't one," Caitlyn chipped in, smiling softly.

"See,
I'm not the only one who thinks you can do this. Look, you could
wait in here for this to blow over – which I'm guessing won't
be soon – or you can face it dead on. And really, this is the
summer of a lifetime, Mitch, just what you always wanted – don't
waste it on some silly little stumble."

"Hey,
at least you've got an experienced helper by your side! Last
summer, I was the outsider. I'll be right there with you, I
promise," Caitlyn told her, causing Mitchie to look down, feeling
guilty.

"I'm
so sorry. I mean, I went off with Tess and left you, I didn't
realise, I'm so, so sorry – "

"Mitchie!
Don't worry about it, you didn't know. And I'm over it. All in
the past, right?"

"And
you've got me. Always and forever, right?"

"Always
and forever," Mitchie replied, a half-forgotten memory rushing to
her mind as she smiled sadly.

FLASHBACK

Three
small children, aged around six or seven at the most, sat in a circle
in a darkened room. It was clearly late at night, and the far-off
sounds suggested that elsewhere in the house, a party was in full
swing. The room was the perfect young girl's bedroom, the white
wood furniture, the soft pink pillows covering the large bed, the
dollhouse in the corner. The owners of the house were clearly
well-off, and the room had been done to supposedly suit their
youngest daughter. Flashes of the girl's own preferences were
evident if you looked closely. The clothes visible through the
wardrobe's slightly open door tended towards brighter, more vibrant
hues than the pastel pink of her room. A few silver or purple
cushions were mixed in with the masses of pink. In one corner, a
child-sized guitar leaned, untidy piles of music books spilled out of
the shoebox behind it.

Sat
cross-legged, leaning forward in earnest, was the room's occupant,
the little Arianna Louisa Richards, youngest of the three Richards
girls. Black curls fell over her slim shoulders, grey eyes sparked
with passion. The tiny girl was nevertheless the older of the two
girls present, while the single boy was the eldest over all. Ari to
her friends, she was the unquestioned leader of the group, a position
gained by her active imagination and eager energy.

Next to
her, knees pulled up to her chest, rocking slightly as she sat, was
six year old Michaela Theresa Torres, the youngest child, even though
most tended to believe she was older than the smaller Ari. Chestnut
bangs fell into warm brown eyes, poker straight hair sliding over her
back and shoulders. A wide smile crossed her face as she listened to
Arianna speak, excitement flooding her eyes. Michaela – called
Mitchie due to her friends' inability to pronounce her full name
when they were even younger – was from the poorer part of town, her
parents not reaching the financial heights of the others. As her
mother had been friends with the other mothers as girls, the three
children had formed a strong bond as toddlers, even though some of
the girls in school called Mitchie names, she always had her friends.

Finally,
leaning against the foot of the bed, blonde hair as messy as ever,
despite his mother's attempts to make him 'presentable', bright
blue eyes lazily watching over his girls as they spoke, was the only
boy of the group. Tall for his age, James William Haywood, called
Jamie or Jay by the girls, was the protector of the group, taking
keeping the girls safe as his duty as the sole male. He listened
carefully to the talk, despite his relaxed appearance, listening to
the soft, sweet voice of Mitchie, his princess, his sunshine, answer
Ari's musical lilting one, his angel, his dreamer. These girls were
the most important things in Jay's seven year old world, and he
would do anything within his power for his best friends.

"So do
you swear?" Arianna whispered eagerly, holding out her small hand.

"Yeah,"
James grinned, placing his on top of hers.

"Okay,"
Mitchie agreed, smiling up at her friends as her hand completed the
pile.

The
fingers threaded together, so the three children's were so mixed
together they could not break free, or tell which fingers were their
own.

"Friends
'til the end…" Ari began.

"Friends
'til the end…" the other two echoed, beginning the pact.

"…hand
in hand…"

"…hand
in hand…"

"…side
by side…"

"…side
by side…"

"…never
will I let you down…"

"…never
will I let you down…"

"…and
this I vow."

"…and
this I vow."

The
familiar voices of their parents called out to them now – the party
was over, it was time to separate. As Mitchie and James opened the
door to leave, Arianna called after them, using the words they
substituted for 'goodbye', never wishing to say the word that
seemed so final in their eyes.

"Always
and forever, guys!"

"Always
and forever," came the joint reply.

PRESENT

"So, we
do this thing, yeah?" Arianna asked, that same fearless energy
sparking in her eyes, even after all those years.

"We do
this thing," Mitchie answered, grinning with the old recklessness
her friend used to inspire in her.

Caitlyn
nodded, confidence causing a third grin to light the cabin, echoing,
"We do this thing."

The three
girls started to plan, working out how to handle the situation, when
a tentative knock interrupted their discussion.

"Hello?"
a male voice called out, unsure. Mitchie's heart leapt, then fell
with the realisation that the voice was not Shane's.

"Dude,
what if they're not in there?" another boy's voice chipped in.

"The
girl said they went this way, Jase." The eye roll was almost
audible.

"Well,
what if they did, but then they didn't?"

"But –
"

The
conversation was cut short when Caitlyn opened the door, revealing
the bickering Nate and Jason Gray.

"Can I
help you?" she asked, carefully schooling her features into polite
indifference, when on the inside she was screaming. After all, she'd
been composed on meeting female musical starlet Arianna Starr, so she
could cope with this. She could, even if she'd had the biggest
crush on guitarist Jason since her first summer at Camp Rock, before
the boys became famous. She'd known Nate pre-Connect 3, so she
could deal with speaking to her old friend. She'd just have to not
look directly at Jason.

"Hey,
Caitlyn," Nate smiled, remembering her from his last two summers at
the music camp, "Yeah, we're looking for Arianna Starr? Is she in
there? We've gotta take her to Uncle Brown."

"Oh,
sure," Caitlyn replied, before turning back to look at the two
girls, "erm, Arianna?"

"Mmm?"

"You've
got to go see Brown," at the raised eyebrow, she added, "the Camp
Director."

"Okay.
I'll be back, Mitch. Complete with chocolate and ice cream."

At her
friend's look, she winked, saying, "A girl comes prepared for
these things."

With a
final smile, she left the cabin.

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